Darksiders II (Deathinitive) first playthrough, part 1

Channel:

CnEY

Subscribers:

185

Published on January 20, 2024 7:59:22 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwDraaCLPbY

Game:

Darksiders II (2012)

Duration: 4:33:36

31 views

1

With the first Darksiders game in the books, it's time to move on to the second, and find out just how much has changed.

I am extremely happy to see some much-needed improvements to some of the first game's biggest flaws. Most notably, you can actually zoom the map now, the world map also shows item/NPC locations, and fast travel is actually fast this time.

Apparently each game in the series focuses on a different type of gameplay. Whereas the first game was very much "what if OG God of War but also Zelda", the second game puts a lot of emphasis on action RPG mechanics, including leveling and stats on both Death himself and his equipment (2 categories of weapon and multiple categories of armor/accessory). There's also a skill tree with multiple separate branches, some of which only become available at higher levels.

Coming in, I should have been worried about the combat, given that Death's primary weapon is naturally the sickle, and War's sickle had felt extremely underpowered and slow to use. Fortunately, Death's sickle is extremely fast-paced - I daresay the combat in Darksiders II overall feels faster than War's very committal swings in the first installment. In terms of secondary weapons, the game gives you a choice between very fast and very slow varities. The slower-paced heavy weapons can feel very satisfying to use but can also leave you wide open.

Possibly the most welcome change in terms of movement and combat, IMO, is that dashing is actually useful, and they completely tossed out the parry mechanic of the first game to fully focus on evasion, which is much more my style. In the first game, War would stand still for 2 seconds picking his nose after every single dash, which was a huge liability punishing the player for unfortunate timing. Death does not have a cooldown after every single dash, but instead only after 3 in a row, with the third evade being a larger jump (apparently he took lessons from Mario).

I'm not sure yet exactly how this game handles its pacing compared to the first one; I felt like the first dungeon was over before I knew it. But so far, there's certainly enough for me to enjoy about Darksiders II.

Other Statistics